Donovan Hires New Assistant Coach

Published May 23rd, 2007

Â Rob Lanier is joining the Florida staff to fill the vacancy left by long time assistant Donnie Jones, who took the head coaching job at Marshall after 11 years at Florida with Donovan. Lanier has spent the last two years on Dave Leitao's staff at Virginia. He spent four years as the head coach at Siena where he took the Saints to a Metro Atlantic Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2002 and the NIT in 2003. He had a 57-80 record in his four years at Siena.

Prior to taking the Siena job, Lanier was part of Rick Barnes' staff at Texas where he earned a reputation as a dynamic recruiter and a great developer of talent. It was at Texas where he coached and recruited guards T.J. Ford, Royal Ivey and Maurice Evans, that Lanier became good friends with Florida associate head coach Larry Shyatt. Shyatt had a long association with Barnes at both Providence and Clemson and the two coaches remain very close friends.

Shyatt said that Lanier brings plenty of strengths to the Florida coaching staff.

Lanier is also a friend of Florida assistant coach Lewis Preston. Preston came to Florida last year from Notre Dame, taking the spot on the staff vacated by Anthony Grant after he took the head coaching job at Virginia Commonwealth. Preston's spot on the Florida staff was originally offered to Lanier.

son of Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, the great center from St. Bonaventure and in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons. Rob Lanier lettered in basketball for four years at St. Bonaventure and started three seasons for the Bonnies. He has a degree in psychology from St. Bonaventure and a master's degree in educational counseling from Niagara University.

In addition to his college coaching experiences at Siena, Texas and Virginia, Lanier also served as an assistant coach at Niagara, St. Bonaventure and Rutgers.